Oral care products, such as toothpastes and mouth rinses, are routinely used by consumers as part of their oral care hygiene regimen. Oral care products are often formulated to provide both therapeutic and cosmetic hygiene benefits. Therapeutic benefits include dental caries prevention, gingivitis prevention, and hypersensitivity control. Cosmetic benefits include control of plaque and calculus formation, removal and prevention of tooth stain, tooth whitening, breath freshening, and overall improvements in mouth feel impression which can be broadly characterized as mouth feel aesthetics. Smooth tooth surface or slick tooth feel is generally considered as an important sign of thorough cleaning and effective delivery of these benefits.
Abrasives, such as silica and calcium carbonate, are widely used in toothpastes to remove dental stains and polish the teeth, therefore smoothing the tooth surface and providing a slick tooth feel. However, the abrasion of abrasives on the tooth surface may lead to abrasive damages on dental enamel. Such abrasive damages include enamel loss (e.g., scratches, micro-cracks, etc.) and enamel thinning, which may roughen the tooth surface and make it easier for undesirable bacteria to deposit and invade into the tooth and consequently result in enamel destruction. On the other hand, a pellicle film to which the dental stains affix usually forms on the surface of the dental enamel within minutes after teeth are cleaned by selective binding of glycoproteins from saliva. The slick tooth feel may diminish soon after the adhesion of the thin coating to the dental enamel.
Therefore, there is a need to solve this problem. There is a need to smooth the tooth surface without abrasive damage to dental enamel. There is also a need to restore the tooth surface smoothness even after enamel loss or thinning. Finally, there is a need to provide a long-lasting smoothing effect on the tooth surface.